Football agent Saif Rubie has denied intentionally threatening the then Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia saying to do so would have been a ‘suicide mission’ a court heard.
In a dramatic day at Southwark Crown Court, Rubie, who is accused of sending a threatening email to Granovskaia in his efforts to recover what he believed was a £300,000 payment for his role in Kurt Zouma’s move from Chelsea to West Ham in the summer of 2021, refuted claims he intended to cause stress or anxiety to the former Blues supremo, saying doing so would be tantamount to a ‘suicide mission’ given her links to Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, previous owner at Stamford Bridge.
Rubie claimed: ‘I’m sending an email to a woman who is the right hand of Roman Abramovich, one of the biggest Russian businessmen in the world. I’m only Saif Rubie…I’m a small agent.
'I don’t think I would be stupid enough to be threatening anybody let alone somebody with the might of Roman Abramovich (behind them). That would just be me on a suicide mission. I’m not that stupid.’
Rubie, 45, also revealed to the court he has launched a civil case against Granovskaia for breach of contract.
On Tuesday, Granovskaia said she felt ‘physically threatened’ by Rubie’s email, in which he referred to an incident involving fellow agent Kia Joorabchian when he was said to have had his watch taken off him by associates of Rubie over payment issues.
However, in the agreed facts of the case read out in court by prosecution solicitor Arizuna Asante on Wednesday, it emerged police found no link between that incident and Rubie saying that Joorabchian never mentioned Rubie’s name at the time. Rubie’s name does not feature in the crime report.
In another intriguing development, it was confirmed yesterday that Joorabchian, who was due to give evidence in trial, would not be attending because he had flown to America. Joorabchian has also told police that he was feeling unwell.